Activity help

[Singer, Susan R]

I just thought I would second the C-fern recommendation.  My intro students
loved working with Ceratopteris last year.
Susan Singer
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	spiro at bucknell.edu [SMTP:spiro at bucknell.edu]
> Sent:	Tuesday, August 31, 1999 2:31 PM
> To:	plant-ed at net.bio.net
> Subject:	Re: Activity help
> 
> I would recommend trying c-fern for a quick demonstration.  This is the
> fern Ceratopteris, a model system that was developed at the University of
> Tennessee and is being marketed by Carolina for teaching grade 7 through
> college.  Only very simple equipment and inexpensive supplies are needed
> to
> culture the spores of c-fern which develop into fertile  gametophytes
> within 14 days.  In fifty minutes the students could learn about
> alteration
> of generations in plants, study the simple structure of these fern
> gametophytes which develop into either male or hermaphrodite gametophytes,
> and observe fertilization taking place.  Fertilization is triggered by
> adding a drop of water to the ~14 day old cultures, which stimulates the
> release of swarms of motile swimming sperm that are chemotactic towards
> the
> archegonia (which contains the egg) of the hermaphrodite gametophyte.
> The
> swimming sperm can be observed directly in the culture dish with a
> disecting microscope. Our intro Bio students found the fertilization
> demonstration to be really fascinating ( you have to be pleased when you
> can get students interested in fern biology).  There is a ton of
> additional
> info including culture conditions, available mutants, and descriptions of
> other demonstrations at the following web site
> http://cfern.bio.utk.edu/manual/manual.html
> 
> 
> >Well, I'm one of those people that cannot say "no" and figure I need to
> be
> >involved in high school linkages, so I have agreed to do two 50-55 minute
> >sessions of "non-trivial" hands on botany. The students are talented,
> >taking  "Bio. 2", and are mostly seniors. They can take the AP exam after
> >completing the high school course. They probably will have had no botany
> at
> >the time the activity takes place (early November). They are using  a
> >college text -- Starr and Taggart.
> >
> >Any suggestions for a "hands-on, non-trivial" experience that we might be
> >able to do in 50 minutes?
> >
> >jim
> >*******************************************
> >James W. Perry
> >CEO/Campus Dean
> >Professor - Biological Sciences
> >University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
> >1478 Midway Road
> >Menasha, Wisconsin  54952-8002
> >920.832-2610
> >FAX 920.832-2674
> >jperry at uwc.edu
> >www.uwfoxvalley.uwc.edu
> >*******************************************
> 
> 
> 
> Mark D. Spiro
> Department of Biology
> Bucknell University
> Lewisburg, PA 17837
> spiro at bucknell.edu
> phone:  (570) 577-3486
> fax: (570) 577-3537
> 
>